There is an eerie symmetry between June 1982 and June 2012. Thirty years may have passed but there are some spooky coincidences: a severe recession in the US and Europe; tension (and later outright war) in the Falkland Islands

One of the interesting elements – ‘joys’ is perhaps too strong a word – of looking back at what the magazine was covering 30 years ago is the identity of the companies mentioned in the editorial or, indeed, those advertising.

The October 1981 issue of HCB concerned itself largely with liability, and in particular the likelihood that conventions would be introduced to put in place systems by which compensation could be provided to innocent victims of incidents involving dangerous goods.

It is said that one normally realises that time is passing once policemen start looking young. Having got used to that, one then realises that one has somehow become older than the world’s leading politicians.